In the past two days, I have listened to at least 3 hours of David Goggins giving interviews on Youtube. I knew of this guy from his ultra-marathon activities, but had never listened to his story. Well, it is an amazing story, a rags to riches story for a poor black kid. But he is different. I learned some stuff.
First, I learned the difference between being inspired to do something and actually doing the thing. I knew what he said but I had never focused on it in his way. Being inspired may get your ball rolling, but there will be suck. Don't just dream of the finish line, but put yourself in the moment of pain and imagine that, be ready for that.
This is really a big point. I get inspired alot. But I don't always carry out the dream because it is a lot of work. Everything worth doing is work. You can receive and incredible business idea, but building and running that business is work. I can imagine the riches and glory. I forget to imagine getting through the work.
Second, he said to get out of bed when you decided that you were going to, like when the alarm goes off, no matter what. Make yourself do it. That way, you are a winner of the battle over control of your brain first thing. You win one right away.
So...
Getting out of bed can sometimes be difficult! Especially if it is for a voluntary activity.
Today I had planned to run my virtual Air Force Marathon. Last night, I prepared my Gatorade and laid out my equipment and set my alarm. The alarm was not set too terribly early because the temperature was to go down to about 56F last night.
Would I make it out of bed? I frequently sleep very badly and that makes getting up very difficult. Goggins says to get up anyway mother-fucker. But I moderated my coffee drinking yesterday. And I did get some decent sleep. I slept enough to wake up at 3:15. And, well, my brain started thinking about running a marathon. So I got up at 3:45, 90 minutes before the alarm. A big win.
I was able to get started with my run at 5 am. It was cool enough for long sleeves. I had a full hydro-pak and I headed north on the long bike path. I loved it. An almost full moon. A completely clear sky. No cars. Deer. Raccoons. Coyotes yipping in the distance. Part of my route went back and forth through a park so I got to enjoy the beautiful forest. It was cool enough that my hydro-pak lasted over 5 hours. So I got back to my house with 24.8 miles done. I refueled and then walked the last 2.4 miles to make a marathon. It was by then warmer and I didn't feel like stressing myself out.
Because the morning was so cool, I did more actual running and better pace than I was doing earlier this summer. I am very pleased that I got it done. Running 26.2 miles by yourself, voluntarily, can be hard. Yes, my feet and knees are sore at about 20 miles. At that point, it is some part of the mind that has to win over some other part, or you'll quit. I know because I've done that.
Not a quitter today. I was more than inspired. I actually carried out the dream.
Yes, I have done other virtual marathons. There are other challenges on my plate which take more long range effort: writing a novel, going to college, reading difficult books, continuing to lift weights, continuing the coolish showers, eating a plant based diet. HaHa: Cold water on my naked body isn't killing me.
There might be a reason for me to do this. I read it in someone else's book. I'm not ready to write it in my own book.
No comments:
Post a Comment